Adani’s group has acknowledged that rebuilding Dharavi presented “colossal” challenges.
A joint venture run by billionaire Gautam Adani is struggling to secure land to rehabilitate poor residents of one of Asia’s largest slums in Mumbai, a government official said, posing a fresh challenge to the ambitious redevelopment plan.
The Dharavi slum, about three-quarters the size of New York’s Central Park, was featured in Danny Boyle’s 2008 Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire. Its open sewers and shared toilets, close to Mumbai’s international airport, stand in stark contrast to India’s development boom.
After winning the $619 million tender last year, Adani Group plans to turn the 240-hectare (594-acre) slum into a modern urban centre, but has already faced protests from opposition political parties who say it received undue favours from the state government in awarding the contract. The group has denied the allegations.
Now there is a new challenge.
Only those who lived in Dharavi before 2000 will get free housing in the redevelopment, and much of the land needed to rehabilitate people (at least 580 acres for now) will be used to provide housing for the estimated 700,000 people deemed ineligible.
To build housing for those who are not eligible, the Adani joint venture has applied for more land from various local and federal agencies but has not yet secured any, said SVR Srinivas, director of the Dharavi Redevelopment Authority.
This is because these government agencies have their own plans for the land they own and are not willing to part with it, he added.
“In Mumbai, getting land is the most difficult thing. Physically, not even a single inch of land has been given to us,” Srinivas said.
Asked if he was concerned that delays in land acquisition would affect the project schedule, he said: “Yes, without land, the project cannot be carried out, so that is a very critical factor in delivering the project on time.”
The Adani Group, which owns a majority stake in the joint venture with the Dharavi Redevelopment Authority, did not respond to an email seeking comment.
The project, which aims to relocate one million people, is a critical and high-profile project for Adani, who last year faced allegations of corporate mismanagement and stock manipulation in a scathing report by short-seller Hindenburg Research, which he denied.
The project began in March with a survey to determine eligibility, and its backers aim to complete construction in seven years.
Mumbai is one of the most expensive real estate markets in India, where property prices are sky-high and land is scarce.
Adani’s group has acknowledged that rebuilding Dharavi presented “colossal” challenges, but said it hoped the area would in future produce “millionaires without the slum prefix”.
(Only the headline and image of this report may have been reworked by Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
First published: August 26, 2024 | 8:33 a.m. IS
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